We're home!!

The rest of the time in Guangzhou was fairly uneventful - which was good since the consulate appointment went well and we were given Molly's Visa to travel home. We left Guangzhou on the 29th for a train to Hong Kong - it was very nice and everyone was wishing that we could take the train all the way home! We stayed at the Regal Airport Hotel in HK for one night and flew back to the US on the 30th. The flight back from Hong Kong to Chicago was rough - there were so many recently adopted babies on the flight so it was a noisy one! Molly had a hard time for about 3 hours, but napped and played the remainder of the time. Unfortunately her naps were short, so my mother and I did not get much sleep!! We then had a 5 hour delay in Chicago and found the transfer from the International to the Domestic gates very trying. The staff was rude and we were just rushed through different areas with no idea where to go - we finally found a board that listed departing flight information, but Ft. Lauderdale was not posted. Then we found another board, but there was a big sign over it saying that all the information was wrong! We finally found the United Domestic terminal only to find out that we had to go through security again!! It was such a long line and after a 15 hour flight and Customs and Immigration, it was not much fun!! The flight from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale was much better. I had planned to give Molly a bottle during takeoff, but she fell asleep and stayed asleep until I woke her when we arrived at the gate in Fort Lauderdale. We had a great reception at the Fort Lauderdale airport!! Candy, David, Lori, Marc, Shannon, and Alan from the Waiting Families Group met us, along with my friend (and chauffer for the evening) Jackie. Thanks to all of you for the warm reception and all the photos and video you took of Molly's arrival!! It was so wonderful and thoughtful of you all and I will cherish those memories forever. Molly greeted everyone with a very sleepy and curious face - kind of how she greeted me on Gotcha Day. She allowed herself to be held by everyone and began to wake up more. Jackie drove us home and we were all so sleepy. Unfortunately Molly had become constipated (probably why she was so upset on the HK to Chicago flight). When we arrived in Chicago, we tried the secret Chinese cure for constipation provided to us by our guide in China (the secret: we feed Molly some McDonald's french fries). By about 2:00am, Molly was feeling better (I guess the french fries had kicked in). I had actually wanted to go to Walgreens for medicine at about 1:00am, but when trying to start up my car I found out that my battery was dead. We gave Molly a bath instead since that always seems to calm her. She fell asleep around 2:15 and slept for about 3 1/2 hours - so far today she has had 2 naps and is now asleep - hopefully for the evening. She went grocery shopping today and met Amy, Gerardo, and Diego. She also went with me to pick up the cats - Peajoe and Scout seem to be ignoring Molly and are just so happy to be at home. I'm absolutely exhausted since I have had less than 5 hours of sleep over the past 2 days. So I think it is time to say good night. I promise to forward pictures soon!! Anna